Chess (#1064)

The women's world championship turned into a walkover. Hou Yifan won 4-0, dropping three draws and finishing off Anna Ushenina with three games to spare. At Tashkent in the ongoing Women's Grand Prix, Koneru Humpy leads, with 6.5 from eight rounds. Dronavalli Harika and Keterina Lagno share second with 5.5 each.

In Kocaeli, Turkey, Yu Yangyi clinched the World Junior Title. The Chinese teenager, rated at 2662, scored 11 from 13 games with a last-round draw against Vidit Gujarathi (9.5). Alexander Ipatov, landed second with 10.5, while Gujarathi shared 3-4 with Jorge Cori. S P Sethuraman shared 5th-7th with 9 points despite a last round loss. In the girl's section, Aleksandra Goryachkina won with 10.5, with Zhansaya Abdumalik second on 9.5. Padmini Rout shared 5th-8th with 8.5.

The Paris Grand Prix is into round four. This is the sixth and last GP and it's especially important for Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk. If either wins outright, they book a slot in the Candidates. Otherwise, that slot goes to Shakriyar Mamedyarov. As of now, Grischuk isn't doing well in the 12-player round robin - he has a minus score with a loss to Laurent Fressinet.

Boris Gelfand shares the lead with Vassily Ivanchuk and both have 3 from 4 games. Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura share 3-4 with 2.5 points each. Incidentally, the venue is unusual - Chapelle de la Villedieu was founded in 1180 by soldier-monks of the Order of the Temple.

Meanwhile excitement is building up for the world title match. The website is up at http://chennai2013.fide.com/ and so are the social media accounts for the WCC at Facebook and Twitter. There will be mobile apps released soon for Android and iOS. Ticketing has also started online. Both players are now in seclusion, working with their teams.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Gelfand Vs Perez, Paris GP 2013) illustrates how good Gelfand is in classical positions. He played 15.d5 e5 16.Nd2 e4 ?! It is by no means obvious but this loses. Black could try 16.-- Bb7 or Re8.

Play was forced with 17.Ncxe4 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 Bxh2+ 19.Kh1 Qf4 White had to see the next and calculate consequences way back. 20.Be7! Qxe4 Ducking complications with 20.--Re8 21. d6 Qxe4 22. Bd5 or 21. d6 Bb7 22. Bd5 are not options.

Forced play continued with 21.Re1 Qf4 22.Rc4! Qxf2 23.Kxh2 Bb7 (If 23...Re8 24. Re2 ). 24.Bc2 b5 25.Re2 Qb6 26.a5! Qxa5 . Very precise. White doesn't take on f8 and Black cannot use Q, Kt, or B to defend the kingside. After 27.Qd3 f5 28.Rf4 Rf7 29.Rxf5 Qc7+ 30.d6 Qc4 31.Qe3 Bd5. (If 31.--Rxf5 32. Bxf5 Nf6 33. d7!) Now white takes the queen with 32.b3! Qxc2 33.Rxc2 Rxf5 White is winning (1-0, 97 moves).

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player